Hyuuga Hanabi
by WS.Blue
Summary: Hyuuga Hanabi took up the task to find her sister, who left with Uzumaki Naruto to battle Akatsuki.
1. The Shinobi Way

Hyuuga Hanabi loved her sister more than she would ever admit, yet now as she watched her sister leaving before her, Hanabi could not find the strength to hold onto her. While Hanabi was a natural prodigy, deemed as the next to succeed the leadership of her clan, Hinata on the other hand was a letdown to the family. Yet the two of them were still after all sisters, while everyone recognised Hinata as a failure in her career, Hanabi saw Hinata as a kunoichi braver and kinder than anyone she had even known. Hinata had always made the right decision when it came to matters close to the heart, something deeply admired by the younger sister.

Despite what was happening around her, Hinata had always stood firm in her decision to stay by Naruto's side. Who, when Uchiha Sasuke left the village for Akatsuki, took upon the duty of protecting all of his friends, making sure that he would lose no one else. Even when the time was dark, and people became suspicious of Naruto due to his history, Hinata stood behind him, gently pushing the boy forward, supporting his weary body.

Indeed, when Naruto left the village at the age of 17, to give chase to his rival, Hinata knew that she would be going with him.

Donning her dark red plain gloves that reached up to her elbows with fur lining the edge, Hinata looked up to where her younger sister stood, holding the door ajar with one hand, still in her nightgown.

Hanabi's lips twisted, her grey eyes darting from one corner of the room to another, trying to find a reason to make Hinata stay while all this time unable to look right into the smile her sister was wearing. Refusing to look into her eyes, Hanabi found herself staring at the leather armour Hinata was wearing, the whole costume was made with the same leather materials, and in the right amount of light, the brown looked like the colour of dark dried blood. It was a simple armour, made for slipping in and out of places during the night, yet right now, it seemed to be an omen.

After putting on her matching sandals, Hinata was all ready, what was left was her hitai-ate, which for the first time, Hanabi witnessed her sister tying it around her forehead as it should be worn. It soon became apparent that this would be the last time she would be able to see her sister again.

Forcing her tears back, she took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around the neck of her taller sister. Whispering into her ears, Hanabi offered her first and only request for Hinata to remain at Konohagakure.

Putting her gloved hand on Hanabi's head, stroking her silky black hair, Hinata hugged back with the other hand. Saying nothing, Hinata gently unwrapped her sister's hands around her, and walked out of the door while waving a simple farewell over her shoulder.

**x**

_Three years later…_

Hanabi carefully folded the letter, fitting it neatly back into the envelope before tugging it into her pocket. Not much had changed within the Hyuuga household, her sister's bedroom remained sparkling clean, as if anytime soon, its owner would return. Neji had since gotten closer to the main branch, having forgiven her father for what he did so many years ago, he now help the older Hyuuga in the running of the clan. For herself, she had her Chuunin missions to content with.

That particular day, Hanabi was wearing her usual mission gear –a black sleeveless padded bodysuit that reached from the neck down to slightly above her knees, and finally with a simple white flak jacket over it. Running her hand through her shoulder-length black hair, Hanabi took one last look at her sister's room, before leaving the Hyuuga compound.

**x**

_Outside the forest surrounding the village…_

The trio sat down at the roadside stall, staring idly into the forest marking the boundary of the Konohagakure, the hidden village of the Leaf. Konohamaru was now a healthy young man, still accompanied by his two best friends –Moegi and Udon. The three of them were just about to return home when they were ambushed by the mobile food peddler, exhausted and not in the mood to see the old hag Tsunade anytime soon, the three of them decided to spend some quality time filling their stomach instead, or at least most of these were Konohamaru's ideas.

Though now sixteen years old, Konohamaru remained forever as a child in heart, with still the same hopeless fashion sense, choosing to wear mismatched and oversized jackets and cargo pants, sometimes even Moegi just gave up on him. His hair was still in a mess, and the everlasting shine in his eyes remained clear and bright, and though not having his grandfather's charm and looks, he was unique in his own ways, although perhaps slightly influenced by an older boy who he had always looked up to.

Perhaps it was because he was at the normal age of teenage rebellious, Konohamaru was trying to conjure up a thousand and one reasons not to return home. Returning home seemed all too boring for the young man now, looking beside him at Udon and Moegi, he saw different opinions in their eyes. They did not realised how constraint the world was whenever they returned home, to be bound by rules, to be expected to do his very best for everything just because of his grandfather was the late Third Hokage, but then again, maybe it was just him.

Unlike Konohamaru, both Moegi and Udon seemed to have matured a lot more, while Moegi had grown up to be a charming young lady, Udon himself had recently established himself as a famous small-time writer, investing his free time in pumping out novels, his latest achievement being accepted by Jiraiya as his successor for the famous 'Come Come' line of merchandise. Other than his rather unhealthy side business, Udon turned out to be a decent young man with a decent size of female followers, sometimes, Konohamaru just had to ponder why among the three of them that he was the least successful. Konohamaru was suddenly reminded of how his first successful summoned monkey decided to stole his hitai-ate, and he had to pay a hefty administration fee for a new one, and there was no discount at all for being a descendant to one of the greatest Hokage!

Sighing the dreadful feeling away, Konohamaru patted his thighs hard before leaping up onto his feet.

"Ready to go, Konohamaru-kun?" Moegi asked looking up at him, thanking the old granny who came to collect the cups from the trio while Konohamaru dug out a coin or two without looking at the amount and dropped them on the counter. The old man behind the counter collected the money just as Udon stood up and gave him some flyers of the new publishing date of the next 'Come Come' volume. (The old granny gave a disapproving look at her old partner, then at Udon.)

As Konohamaru yawned loudly, Moegi suddenly pointed off in one direction while nudging Konohamaru with one hand, "Hey, isn't that Hyuuga-chan?"

Sure enough, when the two boys turned around, they saw Hyuuga Hanabi in the distance, carrying with her a travelling pack.

"Hey, Hanabi-chan!" Konohamaru called, waving his hand high above his head like an idiot.

Hyuuga Hanabi turned and looked at them, and frowned. The three of them appeared shocked, while Hanabi tended to be overzealous in her training and prideful of her heritage, she was no stranger to them, in fact, one might call her their friend.

"Hey, what does that mean?" Moegi asked, pouting her lips and folding her arms.

Konohamaru's adventurous nature surfaced, bringing a wide grin onto his face. "Let's follow her," he said in a low and serious voice, as if by doing that could make him sound serious and manly.

Instead, the two of them looked at him with horrified expressions.

"Don't you find it suspicious that she is travelling alone?" Konohamaru challenged, almost jumping excitedly at the potential seriousness of the deep and complicating mystery.

"A mission perhaps?" Udon rebuked as he sighed just as Moegi nodded her head in agreement.

"Alone? And with a pack that size!" Konohamaru said, pleased with the fact that he figured that all out by himself. Instantly, he found Udon and Moegi already ten feet away, travelling in quick light steps towards home.

Konohamaru scowled, saying, "Fine, I will do this myself!" With that, he turned about, and stalked off in the direction of Hanabi.

In the distance behind him, the two childhood friends looked at one another, admitting defeat, they slowly turned about before running to catch up to Konohamaru.


	2. Rivalry

Hanabi did not even give them a second glance as she walked on forward, almost never stopping to rest. The game lost its novelty even to Konohamaru as Hanabi was resisting all his attempts to find out the truth from her, and she had been quite well ignoring them.

They were now climbing a gentle slope up a forest path, and it was the third day of their journey, exhausted from their travels, Moegi was the first to finally protest.

"No one is asking you to follow me," Hanabi replied quickly, which in turn surprised the trio, as it was the first time she spoke to them since they joined her, it appeared that even Hanabi was getting tired of their constant distraction.

"Fine, I'm leaving," Moegi answered, she turned and walked off as sudden as how this adventure started. Udon was panting hard as he saw Moegi stomped past him, he gave a peek at Konohamaru, and saw the concern on his face. They had travelled quite a distance, though Konohamaru was determined to continue on, he was worried about Moegi's trip back to Konohagakure alone. Saying nothing, Udon nodded back at Konohamaru and turned to follow Moegi out of the forest. Konohamaru smiled, knowing that Udon would protect Moegi for him, and returned to his track. When he turned around, he was surprised to find Hanabi standing there looking at Moegi and Udon. Konohamaru smiled at her just as she noticed him still on the path walking towards her. Turning around, Hanabi (unwillingly) led Konohamaru up the hill, further into the forest.

"I'm concern about you, you know that?"

It was not a lie, it started out as a reason not to go back, but they soon realised that something serious was really going on, and this was not the same Hanabi they knew back home. Konohamaru knew that even Moegi had noticed that, and trying to stop her was her way to help, but Konohamaru felt otherwise, there was no point in stopping Hanabi in accomplishing what she set out to do, he could only follow her and make sure she made it out alive.

They soon came upon a familiar path which Konohamaru recognised, any further along the road, they would end up in a major trade road that would lead them out of Fire Country to Earth Country. As the sun was setting, Konohamaru was relieved to find Hanabi heading towards a small town called Clay Town.

Konohamaru figured that all these walking had finally tired Hanabi, especially when she tried to outrun them, she probably spent a lot more energy fruitlessly trying to put a distance between them.

Nothing was exchanged between the two as they finally set foot on civilisation for the first time in three days. Konohamaru was distracting himself by checking out the prices of all the inns and taverns, but to his surprise, he witnessed Hanabi walking past all of them. Something dawned on him, as he recalled of another exit from the town back onto the same road at the opposite end of the town. She was taking this route simply because it was a shortcut to her to walk through the town instead of circling around it!

"What's the rush?"

No replies, though he could see the weariness slowly creeping into her system, Konohamaru grumbled a little, but he knew he was not going to give up the chase just yet.

Suddenly, Hanabi cursed quietly under her breath. Konohamaru then noticed that much to her dismay, an unusually large crowd of people was gathering right in the street, thus effectively blocking their path.

Apparently, there were two fighters roughing up each other on the street, and cheering them on were the town folks. Curious, Konohamaru quickly ran up ahead and mingled with the group of audience. As Hanabi approached nearer, Konohamaru stuck out his head from the sea of bodies, and called out to them, "Hanabi-chan, you got to look at this! It's Kiba-san!"

Hanabi was no stranger to Kiba (and Shino), being her sister's teammates before her disappearance, Konohamaru's statement caught her attention. Pushing through to get a better look at the fight, she saw the older Kiba enjoying himself as he fought against a man twice his size. Kiba was not wearing his usual mission attire or his hitai-ate, instead were donning some greyish travelling clothes commonly wore by wanderers, and had also kept his hair long and bushy. Two large hounds sat down lazily at one corner, none of them was even watching the fight.

Kiba laughed as his opponent's piteous attempt to land his fist on the agile young man before sending a flying kick at the older man's chin, sending him to the floor. The crowd dispersed with the fight over, and Kiba motioned his hounds to follow him just as he walked off like as if nothing happened. Taking a quick look at the unconscious man, Konohamaru and Hanabi hurrying followed after Kiba.

"Kiba-nii-san!" Hanabi called out enthusiastically.

"Hmm?" Kiba asked, turning around before breaking in a laugh. "If it isn't Hanabi-chan!"

"Kiba-san," Konohamaru called out behind her.

Turning his attention to the boy, he asked with a straight face, "Do I know you?"

**x**

Kiba treated the two of them to a luxurious dinner at a local tavern, for a shabby-dressed wanderer, they were surprised to see Kiba taking out a large pouch of coins.

"Sorry for not recognising you, Konohamaru. Have not been home for past couple of years already," Kiba said while laughing heartedly, followed by a huge bite, chewing off a huge chuck of meat off the roasted drumstick.

"So what you doing fighting that man?" Konohamaru asked.

"Well, I caught him bully a little puppy, so I challenged him to a fight!" Kiba laughed. "As simple as that!"

Konohamaru observed as Hanabi picked up a conversation with Kiba, talking about everything, yet curiously, for two people known through a simple person, neither of them even went near the topic regarding Hinata.

"Where are you two heading, maybe we are going the same way," Kiba asked, placing a big plate of meat on the floor for his dogs.

"I'm going to Ravine Village," Hanabi said hesitating, her voice sounding very serious for a second.

Konohamaru noticed the sudden change of atmosphere. Kiba bended down to pat his wolf-like hounds, before suddenly saying, "So, you are going to look for her?"

Hanabi said nothing, but her expression told Konohamaru that she indeed had such intention. Instead of answering, Hanabi asked, "So you knew?"

"Yup, Shino had a tough time tracking me down, but he passed the message to me."

"Have you seen her then?" Hanabi asked.

"Nope, haven't really seen her yet," Kiba mumbled softly.

"Don't you want to see her again?"

"I afraid that I'm not as brave as you think I am, I don't know how to face her," Kiba answered sadly.

Seeing the rather uncomfortable atmosphere going around them, Konohamaru tried to break the tense ambience with a joke, Kiba expressed amusement at the joke, though Konohamaru wondered if he was even listening to the joke.

The conversation picked up elsewhere, talking about everything else. Finally, Konohamaru broke out a question of his own, "Kiba-san, have you seen Naruto-nii-chan lately?"

Kiba's face broke into an expression of twisted anger for a split second, before shaking his head smiling. Realising that he touched upon another taboo topic, Konohamaru kept quiet.

Pretty soon after that, the three of them retired into their rooms.

**x**

The next day, Konohamaru woke up to find the second bed emptied of its presence. Kiba left with a simple note pinned onto Hanabi's door, stating, 'Maybe I will go and see her one of these days. Good luck on your journey, Hanabi-chan.'

Looking at Hanabi reading the note as they discovered it, Konohamaru watched at the girl's serious expression.

"Are you alright?" Konohamaru asked, somewhat worried about what was going on around them.

Smiling, Hanabi nodded her head slightly.

The two of them left the town early in the morning, much to the disappointment of Konohamaru, exiting the town from the north-western exit, they chanced upon a curious pair of travellers.

Konohamaru widened his eyes in amazement just as Udon waved lazily back at him. Moegi put her fists at her hips while telling off Konohamaru for being late.

Though surprised as well, Hanabi smiled at the situation, knowing that at least Konohamaru had friends he could always depend on.


	3. Comrades

Sitting before the campfire was Moegi, a stick in hand, playing with the fire, amusing herself by poking at the burning woods, or probably because she was bored.

Udon rested on the opposite side, his face covered by the shadow cast by the evening sun, a weird perverted grin could be seen as he jotted down notes on a book, another great chapter was coming up, it was his destiny to surpass Jiraiya's legacy.

Turning her focus to her left was Konohamaru, standing a few feet away from the three of them, with beads of perspiration tracing down his face. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Konohamaru commanded as he slapped both palms together forming a tight and well-performed seal. A puff of smoke came and gone, yet nothing appeared before him, not even a tiniest of all sea-monkeys.

Konohamaru paused for a while before turning his head around to peek at his companions, relived at the fact that none of them were watching another of his failed act, disappointed by the fact that none of them expected him to succeed in the first place. Unable to hide his shame in failing to summon his monkey for the fourth time in a row, Konohamaru slowly crept behind the bush and just squatted there gloomily.

Last night as they camped at the edge of the forest to rest for the night, Konohamaru announced loudly that he would summon his monkey to pass a message to the Hokage since they had been out for so many days already. When Hanabi tried to stop him, stating that she wanted her movement to be kept a secret, Udon argued that unless they told someone about their whereabouts, they might be branded as Missing-nins, and that would only hinder their movement with ANBU dropping down on them. Hanabi was not visibly happy about it either, but did not protest any further.

Putting the thoughts behind him, Konohamaru tried for the fifth time, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A small high-pitch coughing caught the attention of the four teenagers, realising that it came from the newly summoned cloud of white smoke, they watched as a miniature monkey with a pair of thick glasses walked out dizzily. Hanabi noted to herself that the monkey looked just like a miniature Udon.

"That took you long enough!" Konohamaru told the monkey.

"Hey, don't be mean," Moegi answered back as she picked up the little monkey, who appeared rather seasick for some reason, and threw the letter the monkey was carrying right at Konohamaru's face. (The monkey later told Moegi as she cuddled him lovingly in her arms, that it was called 'teleportation sickness' due to the incompetence of the summoner.)

Konohamaru opened the letter, and read out the two-word message from Godaime, "Take care."

"That's all?" Udon surprisingly voiced out, as Hanabi sighed in relief in knowing that at least Tsunade was not going to stop her.

**x**

It was the seventeen day of their journey, it would have been a lot faster if they had being using their chakra to boost their travelling speed. Suggested among themselves that since they were on a non-shinobi mission, it might be wiser to restrict their use of chakra if possible. The length of the journey also forced them into thinking more of the future ahead of them, their destination turned out to be further than they had initially believed in, conserving their energy and supplies were among the things they finally agreed upon. Lastly, despite the importance of Hanabi's unnamed quest, she was not in much of a hurry. It was obvious that her goal was there waiting for her, and it was not moving anywhere until her arrival.

A silent wave of chakra concentration washed over them, nearly sweeping the four of them off their feet. If they had been in a more populated region, this shockwave would have certainly caused quite a disturbance. Looking among one another, they dashed into a run, with Udon interestingly chose to run in the opposite direction, away from the source of the chakra impact, a wise choice in normal situation, he was caught by Moegi and dragged along.

They climbed a gentle slope and marvelled at the scene before them –a towering column of sand spiralling towards a female kunoichi wielding a naginata, a polearm with an elongated curved blade attached at one end of it. Neither fighters took no heed of their audiences, but warriors of their calibre would have surely noticed their presences already.

The kunoichi swept away the column of sand with ease, her naginata spinning at an incredible speed, she tornado-ed herself towards Gaara, her naginata aiming for his throat. A giant hand came out of nowhere, encasing the kunoichi in it enclosed fist. An upward swing was all it took for her to break out of the prison. The two of them paused for a while, obvious to their audiences that they were of equal match.

The kunoichi turned and smiled at the four teenagers with a deadly sense of serenity, then at Gaara. "Looks like we will have to postpone our duel, Gaara-kun."

Gaara said nothing, his arms still folded before his chest, but the sand around them were slowly retreating back into two small gourds he carried on either side of his hip. Gaara watched as his rival walked away from the battlefield, knowing that the battle had for now truly ended with the arrival of the teenagers, Gaara picked up his coat from the ground and dusted it before donning it. With his slick red hair combed to the back with the tattoo of 'love' on his forehead, the children recognised him instantly as Gaara of the Desert.

None of the teenagers knew Gaara well, they had merely heard of tales from their older friends –Gaara who fought against Team 8 during the Chuunin examination, and the same Gaara who fought along side-by-side with Uzumaki Naruto and his band of friends against Akatsuki. Now, Gaara dedicated his life into hunting down the remnants of Akatsuki.

The four of them panicked as they witnessed Gaara approaching them. "I recognise you, what is your name, Hyuuga?" Gaara greeted.

"I'm Hyuuga Hanabi."

"Hinata's younger sister, I have heard of you when I was still travelling with the two of them."

"The two of them?" Konohamaru asked, even more curiously as he noted of the change of expression on Hanabi's face.

"Hinata and Naruto, I was with them two years ago, the last we met was when we were at Raven Town, where we parted to give chase to different goals." Gaara paused, as if giving something an afterthought. "I recently revisited that place, it appears that Sakura has chosen to retire there."

"Sakura-nee?"

"She now opens a small restaurant, a decent place with a nice atmosphere. Give her a visit if you have spare time, Raven Town is close by."

Moegi nudged Udon with her elbow gently, prodding for his quick attention. "I don't remember the others saying the fearsome Gaara of the Desert is _this_ talkative," Moegi whispered.

Gaara eyed Moegi with a rare expression of annoyance in his eyes. "You might want to wait for me to leave before you start talking behind my back."

Gaara's stare caused the kids (even Hanabi) to back out three steps, but to their dismay Moegi stood forward instead. "But it's true, Gaara-senpai!"

"'_Senpai'?"_

"You are certainly not what I imagined the Gaara of the Desert to be, Gaara-senpai! But you look so much cooler than I expected too!" Moegi continued while the remaining three kids remained horrified. Konohamaru was inching forward, desperately trying to pull Moegi back, but fearing as if any closer, he might be turned into sand.

Gaara scratched his cheek slightly, not sure what to say while avoiding a direct eye contact.

"_Is the legendary cold-hearted demon-possessed elite Kazekage blushing?!"_ the three of them thought in unison, their bodies petrified more with surprise than anything else.

"People do change, eventually. Alright, enough about me, where are the four of you heading?" Gaara asked, an obvious attempt to divert the conversation topic away from him.

Their brave leader suddenly took charge of the situation, much to Hanabi's annoyance. "We are going to Lavender Town next, it's our next pitstop, and it's that way." Konohamaru pointed to the east, from where they came from.

"Konohamaru-kun," Moegi whispered. "Lavender Town is that way," she said as she pointed to the north. Turning to look at Udon for confirmation, she was taken aback to find him pointing south instead.

Hanabi remained quiet, though it was apparent she had a different idea of where Lavender Town was and remained looking sullenly at the general western direction. Even though the faint silhouette of the town could already being seen in a distance, the idea of actually reaching it sounded impossible.

Sighing to himself. "Come on then, I don't want to be accursed to be the last witness to see the four of you alive in one piece, I better get you guys to Lavender Town before something bad happened to you."

Momentarily surprised, the four of them looked at one another, confirming with one another of what they just heard. When the motion of infamous Gaara of the Desert escorting _four teenagers_ to the nearest town finally settled into their brains, they noticed that Gaara had already walked quite a distance away from them. Panicking, they hurried after him.

**x**

They spent the next seven hours walking behind Gaara, at a pace comparable with Goidaime's summon beasts. Their pace upset Konohamaru enough for him to start complaining, until Moegi knocked some sense into him, reminding him that they should not trouble Gaara-senpai any more than they should have now that he had volunteered to guide them to Lavender Town out of sheer goodwill.

"Gaara-senpai?"

Gaara said nothing he walked on, shifting one foot in front of the other, dragging sand and dirt with his boots. When it became apparent to him that the girl would not continue her sentence until he acknowledged her presence, he threw back a single look over his shoulder, looking at Moegi, who strangely was not terrified of him as she should be.

"Gaara-senpai, who was that person that you were fighting with?"

"Yes, I'm curious as well," Konohamaru added, forgetting all about his fear of the demon-possessed Gaara.

"We have fought against one another for so long that her name is no longer of any importance…"

The four children looked up at the taller Jounin, they could not see his face since they were walking behind him, but what was this unsettling feeling among themselves, have they touched upon a touchy subject? One that should not have been spoken off? Just when they were not expecting Gaara to say anymore, he continued with his story.

"Just like I had taken away her only purpose of living, she had taken away those who I truly care about."

It was then Konohamaru vaguely remembered that Gaara of the Desert had siblings before, who too participated in the great showdown between their seniors and Akatsuki a few years ago. There were many casualties.

"That person is one of the last three surviving Akatsuki, and though we had our share of conflicts and differences, we are the same, when all come to an end, she becomes a part of my life, and the same could be said of me for her."

When they finally arrived at Lavender Town, Gaara turned and faced them with another bored look on his face, all signs of their previous conversation erased and forgotten. He narrowed his eyes, as if thinking about something.

"Well, in case you _do_ decided to visit Sakura at Raven Town, it's that way," Gaara finally said it while pointing off in one direction, apparently deeply worried that they might get lost.

"You are not coming in with us, Gaara-senpai?" Moegi asked as Gaara walked away from the town's gate.

"I afraid not, I have an old friend to attend to," Gaara answered. "She has after all being very patient and waited all the way here."

The four of them appeared surprised, it was then that Hanabi noticed of a tall girl leaning against her naginata standing a distance away from them. How she managed to avoid detection from the four of them was amazing, but apparently, this Akatsuki had intended to finish their duel by today regardless of what.

"You are going to be alright, aren't you?" Udon asked in an unusually concerned tone. In the seven-hour walk, they had after all became somewhat acquainted.

Instead of a simple nod as they would have expected from Gaara of the Desert, he told them, "Only we alone could ease each other's sufferings."

Having noticing the four youngsters looking at her, the female Akatsuki strangely smiled and waved at them.

"_Will he smile too? When I catch up to him, will he smile at me too? This dreadful feeling, is this what it is like to meet a high-level shinobi?"_

Breaking the silence once more, Gaara looked upon Hanabi and smiled. "Go and look for Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hanabi, she may be able to persuade you otherwise."

"_He knows?"_

Realising that he had said too much, Gaara reassured them by pointing one thumb to his chest. "Do not worry, I am after all the invincible Gaara of the Desert, no harm will come upon me."

Before they knew it, the earth parted and sand engulfed the two fighters, transporting them to a far away battlefield, one that only the victor may escape from.

Even as the four of them were left alone, they stood solemnly by the gate, as if any moment Gaara might return. Moegi could not shake the feeling off her, she feared that it might be last time she would ever see her Gaara-senpai again.


	4. Separate Ways

Moegi had been unusually depressed since Gaara's departure, Konohamaru suggested to the party that they turned in beds early to keep their energy level up for tomorrow's trip to Raven Town.

While Moegi twisted and turned on her bed, being unable to sleep, Hanabi slipped out of her bed in the room she shared with the girl. Perhaps Moegi noticed her exiting the room, but Moegi was not in the state to care. Like Moegi, Hanabi was having a hard time to sleep, but mostly due to the noise Moegi's bed made whenever she changed her position due to her ill thoughts of what happened to Gaara. Figuring that she had a better night out there, Hanabi decided to take a walk, while not expecting who it was she was going to meet that night.

The two of them were walking from opposite directions when they chanced upon one another, as if nothing more than a strangely familiar face, Hanabi mouthed a simple 'ah'.

The Uchiha and the Hyuuga looked at one another like an escaped animal from a zoo, neither appeared affected by their chanced encounter, and neither appeared to be moving out of the way for the other to pass.

By the morning, Moegi woke up to find the opposite bed barely slept in, at first she thought little of it, but had she took a closer look, she would have noticed the absence of Hanabi's travel backpack. Without a word or message, Hanabi had left the town last night.

He said nothing as she walked three steps behind him. Though he did not ask for her to follow him, Hanabi took the lack of protest as a sign of acknowledge, and with that, the two of them travelled in the general direction of Ravine Village. Hanabi did not know whether it was mere coincidence or that he knew of her final destination, but she thought little of it as they walked passed Raven Town where Haruno Sakura was.

Hanabi's fatigue finally set in, having walking non-stop for three days, it was so fortunate that he had chose to rest. As they camped alongside a small stream, they spoke for the first time.

"What do you seek in this journey?"

Looking down at the small piece of dried meat she was chewing on, Hanabi remained quiet. Just when he thought no answer would came from her, she surprised him with the same question.

"What about you? What do you seek at the end of this journey? What do you want in return?" Hanabi questioned softly, honestly not expecting any reply.

"..."

**x**

It took them another two days to reach Ravine Village, just as it was named after, the village was built perfectly within a dried-up ravine, encased tightly like a massive elongated graveyard. From such a high height at the top from where they stood, the view liked a perfectly normal village filled with brick buildings, but once they descended down the cliff, it was as Hanabi expected, what appeared to be buildings were really multiple clusters of tombstones. They had arrived at their destination.

"_Who dug these graves?"_

It was then that they sensed charka being emitted from another presence, some distance away from them.


	5. Life Goes On

Konohamaru had this very awful headache, rubbing his temples hard with his thumb and fingers, he looked at Moegi, who quickly looked away, hiding her tears from him.

Despite openly announcing earlier on that she was glad that Hanabi had finally made herself scarce, and that they could finally give up on this silly game and return home, Moegi was in actual fact, probably feeling worse than anyone else in this room. First they saw Gaara leaving them, now it felt like they might never see Hanabi ever again.

Konohamaru felt bad for shouting at her just now, Hanabi's disappearance was not Moegi's fault, if it was anyone's, it was probably his, since he was the leader of their troupe, he should have solved Hanabi's problem, somehow.

"So when are we leaving to look for Hanabi-chan?" Udon murmured, his face still hidden behind the notebook he used to jot down notes for his new book.

Both Konohamaru and Moegi looked at their long-time friend, surprised that they themselves had not thought of this earlier. Hanabi was their friend, and since day one of the journey, they felt that there was something wrong with her departure from Konohagakure, which was why they chose to follow her in the first place.

"But where?" Konohagakure said in a lowered voice.

"Could she have gone to Raven Town to see Sakura-nee?" Moegi suggested.

Konohagakure shook his head, he knew otherwise, something was wrong with Hanabi, and his gut was telling him that she would not take up on Gaara's suggestion to see Sakura.

"No, I don't think so, she does not want to be stopped. But still, since we have no lead at the moment, let's head to Raven Town as advised by Gaara, we may be able to find out more about the situation. Pack up, everyone, we are leaving this place."

**x**

Sakura was busy, very busy, though she was not much of a cook, but somehow the place was always filled with customers. Sakura did noted that most of her customers were males and always looking in her direction, perhaps it was just like what her waitress said about her beauty. She was annoyed with all the suitors begging her hand for marriage, but Sakura would always politely turned down, unless he was already married, she would then gave him a tight slap so hard that sent him flying to his wife.

She scanned the busy crowd in her little restaurant, most of them were regulars and fairly nice people. The random travellers seldom caused any problem for the town, even if they were causing trouble, the townsfolk knew how to guard their own territory against thieves and bandits.

Oddly enough, she spotted three teenagers entering, they looked… familiar, but she could not put up their names.

"_Do I know them? No hitai-ate, but awfully young to travel to this part of the world. They don't look like traders, and what's there to sightsee beside coal mines and dusty miners?"_

Sakura had not revealed her identity as an ex-kunoichi ever since she came here, neither had she used any jutsu ever since the last battle, she chose this peaceful mining town because there were little disputes, and for all she knew, there had been no shinobi-related missions around this area for decades.

The three of them ignored the waitress and jumped instantly upon spotting her, suddenly running up to her so fast that spooked her, her instinct kicked in and instantly slapped the first male she saw among the trio. Konohamaru flew to the other end of the hall.

"Konohamaru-kun!" Moegi chased after the teenager.

Thinking it was trouble, some of the townspeople bolted up from their seats and sent frightening gazes onto Udon.

Looking at the men, then at Moegi, then at Konohamaru, Udon finally turned to face Sakura.

"Umm… Hi?"

**x**

After remembering who they were, Sakura calmed the crowds down before chasing the trio to a room.

The three were still at a lost of words at the sudden turn of events, Konohamaru tried to say something, but his red, swollen, puffy left cheek only allowed him to form mumbles and gibberish. Sorry for what she did, Sakura slapped him again.

"Ouch!"  
"Hey! What you did that for?!"  
"Um… Are you alright, Konohamaru-kun?"

"It… doesn't hurt anymore…," Konohamaru could only said, stunned about what happened.

Noticing Moegi was still giving her a killing-stare for what she did twice, Sakura started on a lengthy explanation of medical skills using chakra, of how she healed the first slap with a second slap.

"We don't have time for medical lesson, Sakura-san…"

Konohamaru and Moegi turned to look at each other, and agree with Udon, who apparently still had not forgotten the sense of urgency in the matter.

The four of them sat down around a table as Sakura listened to their story, she appeared worried about what they told her about Hanabi's quest, but said nothing until they finally concluded the story about her missing.

"And why don't you go find her at Ravine Village?"

"We are hoping that she might be here," Konohamaru answered.

"She won't be. Despite their looks, Hyuuga girls can be fiercely determined on finishing what they started. And Gaara was wrong, no matter what I said can stop her from going, unless I hold her down physically."

"Why is she going to Ravine Village?" Moegi asked, one of the few questions the youngsters had been dying to know.

Pausing, as if remembering something she should not, eventually, she answered the girl, "Regardless of who, all lives must come to an end sooner or later."


	6. All Things Come To An End

"_Who dug these graves?"_

Her eyes darted from one tomb to another, noting the uniform placement of the carefully crafted stones. Many of them had names engraved into them, men and women of the same family were rested together, one end to the other, until another family started the line again.

The Uchiha she had been accompanying with continued on without taking a single glance at the stones or the names, walking between the rows of tombs with dead weary eyes. Hanabi followed him, columns after columns, rows after rows, all until they came in a little mound in the centre of the once lively village.

It was then that they sensed charka being emitted from another presence, some distance away from them. Standing before the mound marked another man, another shinobi. Hanabi tensed up, charka flowing from her body, ready for an attack, she relaxed her hold on her power when she realised that neither adults were ready to fight yet - though both were holding a slow and steady flow of chakra, neither showed any killing aura.

"Are these your creations?" Itachi spoke, his head still downcast, eyes hidden within the shadow.

"Yes, and no. _We_ both had a part in this destruction and death."

"And I created this monster-"

Itachi gasped as Sasuke flew right towards Hanabi within a single sprint with his chakra-powered palm stretched open. Caught off guard, Hanabi had no chance to defend or retaliate, before she could even react, Itachi grabbed her left sleeve and pulled her over to the other side before parrying Sasuke's blow with one hand.

Deflected back, Sasuke used the surface of a tomb to rebound back towards Hanabi.

Now prepared, Hanabi leered as she planned to use her skill to catch the incoming Sasuke within her trap. Itachi swept the ground with his left leg, knocking her onto her back.

"Why?! Am I not strong to defeat him?! This is my fight, and mine alone!"

Ignoring the presence his younger brother, he cast a frightening gaze at Hanabi, using his Sharingan to immobilise her with fear.

Trembling with 'fear', Hanabi could watch the scene before her. Sasuke had found himself a spot on top of a tombstone, he appeared annoyed at being interrupted, looking at Itachi for the first time ever since they arrived, and spoke with a cold and hardened voice, "But it is she who I am waiting for, sister of Hyuuga Hinata, a circle must come to an end from her."

"_Why is that bastard waiting for me? Killing me like he did with my sister?!"_

Hanabi resisted the fear and closed her eyes, she must break free from the fear implanted upon her.

Itachi kicked Hanabi in the face, breaking her concentration on purpose. "There is no need to stain your hands with blood, I will kill him, he will die." Looking up to the sky, "I guess, by now, we are the only two left among the nine, Sasuke."

**x**

_Raven Town, two days ago..._

"He and I have something in common after all, all of us are tired of the deaths surrounding us. Just like how Kiba chose to wander the world and deny the truth, while Shino took on solo missions, he and I chose to settle down and forget our past. Life goes on for the three of us, and we forget our shinobi ways. However, Naruto chose to end it all, ending it with Sasuke, who started this all."

Moegi and Udon were still in a state of shock, at the truth of the war between the twenty-one shinobi and kunoichi, but Konohamaru's train of thought remained tightly focus on Sakura's words.

"Hanabi-chan… Does she know?"

"She does, after I found out about what happened, I sent a letter to Tsunade, but that was around two years ago. The fact that she only just moved out recently can only mean that either everyone had been hiding the news from her and she just found out about it, or she had been training hard for this day."

"But how does she know Sasuke is there at Ravine Village?" It was now Moegi who questioned Sakura.

"She doesn't, she can only hope, she has no other leads to his whereabouts, but since it ended there, it has to start there for her."

Konohamaru leaped from his seat and exited through the window in a flash. Sakura did not even blink as Moegi swiftly followed after him, instead she turned to look at Udon, who remained seated.

"Sorry, I can't be there, I am not as strong as I used to be, please take care of them for me."

Udon nodded politely before dashing out of the door.

Sakura looked down on her palms, as if reading the unwashable blood stains that still haunted her hands. It was not her fear of blood that forbade her from helping them, it was her fear of facing Sasuke, of her cowardice of not going with Naruto and Hinata when they found the whereabouts of Sasuke.

**x**

_Ravine Village, present..._

"Guess I will have to get rid of you first."

Sasuke wasted no time into attacking, leaning forward, he attached his feet to the face of the tombstone he was on, and propelled himself forward. Spiralling towards Itachi, his right hand stretched out to reach him.

Hanabi saw as Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan with ease, but quickly deactivated it as fast it came, it was then she realised that even if there was a slightest chance that a Mangekyo-user could be caught by another Mangekyo, it would be useless as Sasuke wasn't even looking at him. Sasuke had been avoiding to look directly at Itachi all this time, waiting for the time to come.

The two Akatsuki parries blows after blows, releasing jutsu skills all over the place, with Hanabi still held down by Itachi's enchantment, she could watch as the battle stray further and further away from her, away from the tombs into a more remote part of what was left of the village.

"_Concentrate! Hyuuga Hanabi, concentrate! You can break the Sharingan!"_

"Hanabi!"

Tilting her head back, Hanabi saw the last three person she wanted to be here running towards her. "_What the-"_

"Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, Hanabi-chan, I'm so worry!" Moegi practically screamed as she shook Hanabi's shoulders.

"Shut up and release me already! It's Sharingan!"

"Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan? Then who is he fighting?" Udon wondered out loud just as Moegi used her genjutsu to unbind the effect placed on the other girl.

"No time to explain, stay here, while I go help out," Hanabi said as she started on a run.

"No! We are going with you, Hanabi," Konohamaru shouted. "We know what you are planning to do, but we can't let you."

"Tsk, so you know? I know better than to let the three of you to follow."

"It was our choice that we followed you, you have no say in this," Udon replied with a stern tone.

"We are your friends, your fight is ours as well," Konohamaru added.

"Friends? That's a pretty one-sided relationship between us, funny that I have never thought of you three as mine."

Giving up of telling them to stay put, she decided to put her focus on what mattered most, to kill Sasuke. Sprinting ahead, she could still feel the two Uchihas fighting, apparently both were on equal level, that would give her more time to catch up.

Noticing Hanabi approaching, Itachi appeared to be rather unhappy, he had no intention of letting the girl to dirty her hands with another's blood, if there must be a murderer, it would be him alone. He had already understood what Sasuke had intended to do, all these while, Sasuke was not fully utilising his full power, he was waiting, waiting for Hanabi. "_I must finish this before Hanabi arrived!"_

Seeing Itachi being distracted, Sasuke sent Itachi flying with a charged up attack.

Cursing himself for letting his guard down, Itachi struggled to get up, but he was held down by the wounds. "Hyuuga Hanabi, don't!"

"Hyuuga… Hi- Hanabi…," Sasuke mumbled to himself, his resolution was fixed, and there would be no change of mind. His brother was already in condition to stop him this time round, everything would finally end with Hyuuga Hanabi.

Hanabi was already close to her attack range, but after his experiences with both Neji and Hinata, he very well knew of every trick a Hyuuga could throw at him, Sasuke could only hope that this time, there might be something new.


	7. Memories That Were Ours

_Ravine Village, a year ago..._

Known among themselves as a village, the community had also been known to the outside world for its splendid pottery exports. Between the stone walls, a man of nineteen years sat on a stool, his hands in the clays, his mind distracted by the past that caught up to him.

For the past half year, Uchiha Sasuke had been a member of this community, though he was bad at the skills, he was a keen learner and liked the place greatly.

The man behind him spotting two hitai-ate around his upper left arm, stood silently under the sun, only looked at the missing Akatsuki's back, waiting.

The silence was broken by Sasuke, "Naruto? I noticed that you have been watching me for a while. You came alone?"

"So it is true that you have lost your memories of the past few years, which you don't remember?" Naruto solemnly asked.

"_Hinata,"_ Sasuke's voice called out to him from the depth of his mind. "But it is slowly coming back to me," Sasuke replied.

"I had been in this dilemma to whether let you go in peace, if you have truly forgotten," Naruto said, his actions revealed the lies he told himself. "No, I can forgive you for what you did-," Naruto continued, he pulled Sasuke up by his collars, forcing him to look into his eyes. Teary. "-but I can't forgive you for forgetting!"

**x**

_Ravine Village, present..._

"_What was that?"_ Sasuke pondered, had the time finally caught up to him, could this be his last moment? Why did he suddenly remember the day Naruto found him? Closing his eyes, he could sense the approaching threat.

Hanabi was fast, already close to approaching her attack range. In an instance, Sasuke grabbed her by the hand, he twisted his body, swiftly dislocating her right shoulder. Ignoring the pain, the girl immediately returned with another strike, throwing herself at him, she forcefully socket her shoulder back with the force of the impact, and quickly sought to grasp onto his neck, instead, she found herself the ground, thrown by the older shinobi.

They exchanged blows after blows, with only Sasuke parrying every attack Hanabi could offer. Konohamaru and Udon stood behind them, though they proclaimed that they would aid her in the fight, they hesitated knowing that this was her fight. Itachi soon joined them after Moegi helped him out, leaning on the shorter girl, Itachi too was unable to do anything with his injuries. The presence of an Akatsuki member no longer frightened them, their mind were on the battle before them.

Sasuke's actions were odd, he was wavering, even the inexperienced Hanabi could see it. He was not acting like the seasoned killer he was, all these while, Sasuke had only been defending from Hanabi's attacks – dodging, blocking, reflecting, but never truly attacking. Every time Sasuke unleashed an attack, Hanabi would dodge it, or was Sasuke missing on purpose? Sasuke was not hesitating on whether to kill her, he was afraid of being killed by the girl. In the barren village, Sasuke was not fighting Hanabi, instead the girl realised that he was fighting against himself.

"_Why?"_

Sensing Hanabi's resolution faltering, Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan.

_A blinding golden light exploded from the impact, engulfing the master of Kyuubi as he crashed against the wielder of Mangekyo Sharingan. Bringing up a chakra barrier to shield herself from the heat of the demonic Rasengan and the Mangekyo Chidori, Hanabi watched in anticipation of the outcome._

_A dark silhouette tumbled forth from the fire, with the flame as the backdrop, she was uncertain whose hand was stretching out to reach her. All she could use to identify him was his flaring orange eyes. "Naruto!" she cried out as she ran towards him, and it was then that she realised the world around her was moving in slow motion. The man lying on the ground was not Naruto. "Sasuke!"_

'_Sasuke' stood up in an instant, rushing towards Hanabi with both hands armed with a Rasengan each. "Sasuke!" he yelled. Without hesitation, Hanabi prepared to let loose her final attack._

_The attacks connected, with neither opponents even attempt to escape it, they believed this was their chance to remove Sasuke from the face of the world._

_The fogs over their eyes waned, the two shared a moment of silence over what had just happened. Removing her open palm from Naruto's chest, Hanabi collapsed into his arms, worn and shattered._

"_No, no, no, no…," Naruto repeated. "It can't be," he pleaded to the sky. Even if he had mastered over Kyuubi, his eyes and hers could still be tricked by Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan. Embraced by the man she loved, the last thing she felt was the kiss, and a drop of cold tear on her cheek._

Hanabi found herself crying, she had just re-experienced the last moment of her sister's life, but she was not crying because of her death, but knowing how much Naruto had to suffer knowing what he did.

"My eyes can make people see what I want them to see," Sasuke offered a commentary. "But that was not made up, it was an re-enactment."

Hanabi removed her palm from Sasuke's bare chest, his clothing was shredded to pieces from an unknown force, and the whole of her right arm quivered with pain, as if every single veins and arteries in it had ruptured from the sheer force from her chakra. That technique was something Hanabi had never learnt before, it was something her sister created after she left Konohagakure.

Looking up, afraid of seeing what she had done, she saw Sasuke wobbling on two unsteady legs, the technique struck true, it had hit his heart. Hinata's most feared technique was something that would guarantee an instant death to the victim, provided she could land a clean shot, something useless on a fast moving target unless he wanted to be hit by it.

"Naruto lived through it," Sasuke explained with a weak smile, to disprove her belief that her sister killed Naruto. "He had Kyuubi, something I don't."

Catching the falling Sasuke, Hanabi hastily rested his body gently onto the ground. What Sasuke witnessed next before he slipped off unconsciousness was something he was not expecting, Hanabi called out to her friends and his brother for help, to save him. Konohamaru quickly pulled Moegi by her hand, knowing that she among the four of them was most skill in medical techniques, however Moegi herself was confused by the event, all she could do was to ask, "Why?"

**x**

He found himself under a shelter, probably one of the houses that were still standing after the last fight between him and Naruto a year ago, he could not be sure, but it must had been days since Hanabi killed him.

"How?" he muttered to the girl standing next to the bed, she had a sling around her right arm, and was facing him with an irritated look, as if she regretted saving his life.

"When I was _there_, it's as if I was my sister herself, and when I returned, I brought back with me her memories and knowledge. That attack is not perfect, within a short limit of time, the process can be reversed by someone who has mastered how chakra works. Had my sister not die, she could easily save Naruto's life even if he did not possess Kyuubi. Alas, I still lack my sister's trained body, I hurt my arm in the process, it will recover in a few more days," Hanabi explained as she moved the wounded arm. With that said, Hanabi turned and proceed to leave the hut.

"Why?" Sasuke would have shouted if he could, now he barely had the strength to turn his head.

Halting in her steps to the door, she turned around to face Sasuke and asked, "First, tell me how Naruto died."

It was something he didn't want to remember, but he answered, "I killed him."

"Tell me everything that happened a year ago."

"He found me, and we fought. People died, and… I was defeated, lying on the bloodied soil with him looking down at me."

"Then?"

"He was about to kill me, but he cried instead. I attacked him and killed him with one hit."

Shutting her eyes for a moment, Hanabi took a deep breath, and continued the questioning, "Were you happy in this town before Naruto found you?"

Sasuke said nothing, but Hanabi could see the answer the way he acted.

"Who killed the people of this town?"

Sasuke's lips parted slightly, but closed before saying anything.

"How?" Hanabi continued without waiting for the answer.

"He released his control over Kyuubi, he let it berserk before sealing its power again," Sasuke murmured, and surprised that it came out so easily. "I watched as he killed all of them without even lifting a finger, I could do nothing, it was over before I even realised what happened."

"And why?"

"He hated me, for having a new life here, while… forgetting what I did."

"Do you really believe it's possible for someone with all that power to die so easily?"

Sasuke torn his eyes away from the girl and looked at the paint-peeled ceiling. "He let me kill him."

"Why?"

"Why, why, why?! What do you want me to say?! I don't know what he's thinking, why he cried, why he let me killed him!"

"You do. Now, why did you wait for me to come to have my revenge? Why did you want me to kill you? Why didn't you take your own life?"

"I…"

"You are both afraid of living and dying, you need someone to end it for you, you believe that me having my revenge will remove your guilt. Now, tell me why did he let you end his life?"

"He was sorry for what he did, what he did to the town and its people. It was a moment of impulse, and he let anger overwhelmed him."

Hanabi lowered her head, hiding her tears.

"He believed that he didn't deserve to live, and-"

"My sister and I are practically the same person now, I know what she knew, and we are the only person who truly understand Naruto. She knew that if given a chance, Naruto would never kill. All those years fighting against Akatsuki, he had never killed a single person, he would not want you to be his first. He wanted you to live on, my sister and Naruto were the only two people who were still pursuing after you, he wanted you to sever your tie to the shinobi world. With his death, you will be free."

"He wanted me to live a new life," Sasuke said blankly. He knew this all along, but could not convince himself that it was real.

"You regretted your actions but refused to admit it, he still cared about you as a friend yet hated you at the same time. Both of you act against your feelings, your actions contradict your consciences. The two of you are idiots, cowards and liars, Sasuke, Naruto."

An air of silence lingered within the space between them before Hanabi decided to leave.

"Hanabi, I'm sorry," was what Hanabi heard before she closed the door from the outside. A few more steps later, she collapsed into tears, "_I'm not Naruto, I can't forgive you."_

"Hanabi, are you okay?" Konohamaru asked, and not surprisingly Moegi and Udon were there beside him.

"I'm fine," the girl said as she resisted Konohamaru's help to get up.

"But you're crying," he questioned.

Wiping the tears away with her fingers. "Do you know how it feels to be love with a dead person who you don't really know?" Hanabi asked as she walked away.

Stumped by the question, it took Konohamaru a while before he realised that she was already heading towards the older Uchiha. "Hanabi, you can't be serious! Who's he? I'm not dead…"

"We are not that close, don't call me by my first name," she shouted back as she approached Itachi. "I guess I will be heading back home now, Uchiha-san. Thank you for helping me find your brother."

"I should be the one thanking you," Itachi smiled.

"Take care," Itachi said.

With a simple wave, Hanabi went to retrieve her backpack, the trio hurriedly followed closely after Hanabi.

"It's going to be a long way home, figure we can hitch a ride back?" Konohamaru asked.

"As long as we are not on some monkey's back," Udon said, he soon received a slap behind his head from Moegi.

"I will catch up, I need some time on my own, and some places to visit," Hanabi said.

"Let us come with you." Hanabi ignored Konohamaru and started running. "What I said this time? Come on, we need to catch up to her."

"Not again…"

**x**

_Elsewhere, some time later..._

The dogs barked.

Turning his head a little, Kiba spied Shino climbing the slope. "Yo," he said as he resumed into a squatting position. "Looks like they still don't like you, must be the fleas."

Shino nodded before saying, "Very funny. I guess Hanabi-chan found you too."

"Yeah… She's been busy lately, but still, I should have been here earlier without her telling me to," Kiba murmured as he carefully placed another flower before the simple tombstone.

**xoxo**

**Author: This story was a spin-off deviation of another story I wrote, the kunoichi Gaara was fighting was a character from there.**

**There were supposed to be two more short paragraphs discussing about the fate of Team 10 and Neji's team, I removed them because they didn't contribute to the story at all.**


End file.
